Wednesday, April 28, 2010

It was the day after Car Accident 2010. Shaken up and stiff, M was panicked about safety. Honestly, who would blame him? He’s been hit 5 times in the last 11 years, each time while driving the Bermuda Triangle Truck. Needless to say, M had a shaky trigger finger and that poor little white truck was sooo fired.

When we became 3, we could not fit all of us in the single cab Bermuda Triangle Truck so our car became our only family vehicle. We decided we would hold off on purchasing a bigger truck until after graduation at the end of the year. That didn’t keep my husband from eyeing the year, make and model of his truck-to-be. When it came time, he would know exactly what he wanted.

However, something about having the steel bumper of BTT mangled such that a crumple appeared behind the passenger side (read: baby’s side) door really had my husband rattled. He couldn’t sleep. In his wakefulness, he sent a late-night inquiry about the used truck of his dreams. By Thursday morning, he was in full e-negotiation with the dealership. They pulled our credit, M negotiated some more, and we told them to draw up paperwork.

We went for a test drive, M negotiated some more, and we sat down for the everybody’s favorite: the paperwork portion. In about an hour, we were driving away with a new-to-us truck, but not before hearing from the finance guy how good our credit is and how the process was made easier because we could essentially get a loan from the lender of our choice at a good rate that allowed us to meet the payment limit we had set. Then, because we did not want two car loan payments, I called and pulled cash out of savings and we paid off the car a year early. It was the easiest car purchase we’ve ever made.

Not one to play a braggart, even on TV, I say this to highlight a real world example of what good credit can do for you. What it did for us. I was a doubter, it’s true. But I’m now more convinced than ever about not drinking the short sale Kool-aid. We’ll be holding on to our house (and our good credit) for as long as reasonably possible. We’re drowned if we do, drowned if we don’t. But hopefully our credit score will keep floating in the upper echelon while we hold our breath.